Live concert photography of Dedstrange Records' New Colossus Festival party at Berlin Under A back in 2022.

Live Concert Photography: New Colossus Festival 2022: Dedstrange Records Party at Berlin Under A 3/9/22 feat. Wah Together, GIFT, Paul Jacobs, Thus Love and Dead Tooth

Photographers often have a treasure trove of unedited and unpublished photos. I’m not an exception. Unsurprisingly, I have a rather deep collection of unedited and unpublished photos on several dead and malfunctioning external hard drives, going across the bulk of this site’s almost 14 year history. Once or twice, I’ve been lucky to have my valuable files restored and placed on an entirely new external hard drive, and during slower periods, it has allowed me to go through my archives and files.

Back in March 2022, I covered the New Colossus Festival. Co-founded back in 2018 by three New York music industry vets and longtime friends, former Lorimer Beacon founder and head Mike Bell, Kanine Records‘ founder and label head Lio Kanine and Kepler Events ‘ and Dedstrange Records co-founder Steven Matrick, The New Colossus Festival over the course of the past couple of years has featured several hundred handpicked, emerging indie bands and artists from Canada, the UK, the European Union, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course, the US.

Since its founding, the festival has quickly established itself as the first stop in New York and in the US for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy for a growing number of emerging and buzz worthy international artists. Notable festival alumni include a number of JOVM mainstays including GIFT, Penelope Isles, The Orielles, Thus Love, as well as Pom Poko, Pom Pom Squad, Sid Simons, Sobs, Water From Your Eyes, Peel Dream Magazine, Kiwi Jr., and a growing list of others.

On the festival’s first night, Dedstrange Records hosted one of the most fun showcases I’ve been to in some time up to that point, at Berlin Under A that featured Wah Together, who at the time had released a single or two through the label and played one of the most fun sets of the entire festival; rising local psych rock outfit GIFT, who melted minds and faces; Montréal-based artist Paul Jacobs; Brattleboro VT-based post punks Thus Love, one of the highlights of that year’s festival; local No Wave-meets-post punks Dead Tooth, who also impressed me with a wildly energetic set.

Photos, of course, are below.